The wiki-vandalizing is off to a sluggish, yet satisfying start. Fjordball's wikipedia-entry now suggests that fjordball's editor-in-cheif was, as a child, sat on by a manatee named Sigurd. That is top-quality vandalism, well done. Keep them coming people, keep them coming.
There was Adeccoliga-action this weekend, but it was a bit dull as the big match between Start and Sandefjord was rescheduled due to both teams having players away on international duty.
And as the Swedish-saying goes, "when the cat is away the rats all eat each other" (note; might not be an actual saying), and Odd reclaimed the top spot with an emphatic win over Kongsvinger. Kongsvinger have, much to everyone's amusement, hired Tom "Keiko" Nordlie in a desperate effort to save their bacon, but this didn't stop Odd from recording a comfortable 3-0 win.
Fellow relegation-battlers Hødd didn't fare much better as they went down to Haugesund on home turf, 1-2 the score in Ulsteinvik. Alta on the other hand took another step in the right direction by spanking managerless Moss 3-0 up North.
Bryne finally ended their seven game losing-streak with a 1-1 draw away to Sarpsborg Sparta, while Sogndal took another step towards the playoff-spot with a 3-2 win away at Notodden.
Lastly, Løv-Ham and NIL Trysil played out an utterly uninteresting 0-0 draw.
In the news this week, Start's economical situation is becoming increasingly difficult. In spite of having sold Anthony Annan to Rosenborg for 10 million NOK the soon-to-be-promoted club needs to come up with 35 million more, sharpish.
The construction of their shiny new stadium coupled with last season's unexpected relegation has landed the southerners in dire straights, and this season's low attendance-figures hasn't helped either.
Start have sent out letters to various wealthy people in the area and asked them to chip in, and if their current owners can't stump up the cash a change of ownership seems a likely solution.
While an adeccoliga team with a tippeliga wage-bill, a high-maintenance stadium and low attendance-figures might not be a terribly enticing business-proposition, the team look nailed on for promotion to the more lucrative Tippeliga so Start's fiscal and sporting future looks bright enough. They just need to get through this slightly tricky period to get there.
3 opinions:
Many bad business deals like the two Brazilans couple with the stadium cost and demotion have been major setbacks at Start. It will be interesting to see what they can do if new investors are not found.
One way out is to sell some additional players but that would likely just drop them back to the Adecco in 2010. Selling players reduces wages and brings in money. The only players I can think of under contract worth some money would be Goodson and Hoie in their prime & the young guys Owello, Kleiven, Haestad. But again it's 'Catch 22' because w/o these guys the club has no future.
I wonder if clubs realized Start's money problems when they were offered probably less that fair market value for Annan recently knowing Start needed money NOW.
Yeah Start's in a difficult situation.
I read on Soccer 365 that Goodson has drawn interest from both Germany & Denmark in addition to the Tip. Could Start be desparate enough for cash to sell him in January? I think there would be lots of pissed off supporters if they did.
I think it'll be sorted out and I don't think they'll have to resort selling players to make it happen. They know that re-establishing themselves in the Tippeliga is the most important thing right now, and there should be enough money going around in the area to work things out in the short term.
I wouldn't be surprised however if there was a change of ownership. It would be a shame, as unlike a lot of other people I do think their current big man is a decent guy, and he's certainly done a lot for the club since he came in, but he might not be able to afford hanging on to it now.
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